MLA Clovechok urging government to explain Revelstoke’s high gas prices

MLA Doug Clovechok is demanding answers from the B.C. government regarding gas prices.

He said the Columbia River-Revelstoke district is seeing unusual fluctuation in gas prices compared to the rest of B.C.

For example, in Invermere, there is a $0.49 difference between regular and premium gas at the same gas station. On top of this, gas prices at different stations within the town can vary up to eight cents a litre.

On April 3 in Revelstoke, regular gas costs up to $1.09 per litre. Yet, just 70 km away in Sicamous, gas is $0.87 per litre.

“It’s truly a mystery,” he said in a prior interview with Black Press .

Last month, Clovechock said he has heard from colleagues that it could be due to price wars or inventory, i.e. the prices in Revelstoke has not dropped yet because the gas stations need to sell their product depending on what price they bought it, which means when they buy gas again at a lower price and those cost savings will be passed onto the consumer.

“These are stark differences, and my constituents are left without answers as to why these fluctuations exist,” write Clovechok in a recent letter to the Bruce Ralston, minister of energy.

As-of-today, Western Canada Select the bench mark for Alberta oil producers, is selling at less than $10 per barrel. A far cry from the record high price of $115 per barrel in 2008.

According to the GasBuddy app, one of the lowest prices in Canada as-of-April 3 is $0.44 per litre in Walsh, Alberta.

Last November, the province passed a bill called the Fuel Price Transparency Act, which aimed to provide answers to British Columbians about gas prices. The bill was developed in response to the BC Utility Commission’s investigation that found an unexplained 10 to 13 cent-per-litre premium charged at pumps in B.C.

Clovechok would like to know what the B.C. government is doing to investigate the current gas price fluctuations. He furthered that since gas prices are unfairly impacting British Columbians during the COVID-19 crisis, Clovechok would like to know if the provincial government will use emergency measures to regulate prices during the pandemic.